Government of the Commonwealth of Dominica

Government Information Service

Medical Laboratory to observe National Medical Laboratory Professionals Week 2010

by Emmanuel H. Joseph
Government Information Service

The National Medical Laboratory will from Sunday, 18th to 24th April, 2010 observe National Medical Laboratory Professionals Week 2010 under the theme “Laboratory Professionals Get Results!” According to a communiqué from the Medical Lab, this year marks the 35th anniversary of Medical Laboratory Professionals Week and staff of the Medical Lab at the Princess Margaret Hospital Laboratory will be joining the rest of the international community in celebrating the event.

Staff of the Medical lab is inviting the general public to come and join the PMH Laboratory in celebrating and recognizing our medical laboratory professionals. Lab Week celebrates the dedicated professionals who are often behind-the-scenes members of a laboratory team with one goal in mind—quality patient care.

What they do is more than just a job. It’s a mission. Every day their work in the laboratory contributes 70-80% of the information needed for precise diagnosis and personalized treatment. An accurate diagnosis begins the journey back to wellness for patients.

The communiqué further states that the Clinical Laboratory Professional is a key member of today’s health care team. Laboratory Professionals have the skills to unlock important medical information that is pivotal to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease.

There are a wide variety of medical laboratory professionals who affect patient care on a daily basis. Many of them practice in medical laboratories in hospitals, clinics, research facilities, blood banks, among other facilities. They include pathologists, medical technologists, medical laboratory technicians, phlebotomy technicians, laboratory managers and quality managers. Among the departments that make up the medical laboratory are chemistry, serology, hematology, histology, microbiology, and the blood bank. All deserve special recognition this week for their commitment to provide accurate diagnoses for patients.

As integrated members of the clinical care team, pathologists diagnose diseases and determine test results. In turn, these test results drive a significant portion of clinical decisions from diagnosis to therapy, and pathologists and their medical laboratory professionals often serve as a resource to fellow clinical colleagues and patients.

Pathologists serve a collaborative role with fellow clinicians—laboratory technologists, technicians, phlebotomists, and other exceptional members of the health care team—regarding wellness, the diagnosis of illness, and the treatment of disease.

With the use of modern biomedical equipment and complicated analytical systems, Laboratory Professionals detect the presence of cancer, identify infectious viruses and bacteria, and measure glucose, cholesterol, or drug levels in blood. Without this precise and valuable information, medicine would simply become guesswork.

Activities planned during Medical Laboratory Professionals Week were designed to recognize Laboratory Professionals, enhance their image, and educate the public, government and private sectors about their role in health care.

This year the week will begin with a Church service at the Gospel Mission Church in Goodwill, school outreach programme, a social outreach where a food basket will be donated to a needy institution and a staff social.
The rest of the activities for the week are as follows: